Tesla’s SPAC-tacular Vote Is All-In on Musk

Tesla Inc.’s shareholders have taken an important step toward resolving one of the great mysteries of our time: What is Tesla? It is touted as, variously, an electric vehicle maker, a battery powerhouse, an autonomous driving pioneer, an artificial intelligence giant or an emerging leader in robotics. But the shareholder vote that just happened revealed that Tesla has become more like something else entirely: A blank-check company.

To little surprise, the annual gathering of Tesla’s faithful said yes to the board’s trillion-dollar compensation package for Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, with preliminary backing of more than 75%. Sheer belief in his abilities underpins the stock’s 200-plus earnings multiple and he has not so subtly threatened to take those abilities elsewhere if he doesn’t get his way. Meanwhile, Tesla’s succession planning, despite the board’s professed efforts, has a distinctly nascent air about it. Think of that trillion as a huge insurance premium against the potential dereliction of the company’s own leader.